Blood Will Be Shed
by Michelle-pce
Summary: You've all seen the movie, but didn't we all wonder what happened after the movie? What happened to the 4 remaining survivors...? Chapter 5 Updated: please read & review
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Authors Note I really enjoy the film _Dawn Of The Dead_, very intruiging. So I came upon this category and decided to attempt to write a fic of my own, continuing right after the movie ends. I'm sorry if this fic has already been done several times, this is just my own version of what happens..

**I **stood there erectly, staring aghastly at the fading figure of Michael, my friend, my partner, my guide. He stood there, his body rigid, a gun poised under his chin as he observed the boat I stood in, as it drifted along the churning waters towards safety, towards another world, far away from all this utter chaos and perturbation. Michael had gotten horribly bitten by one of those monsters..one of those horrid, flesh-eating zombie creatures. He had told the rest of us survivors to leave and go on further without him, as he would soon be one of them himself. I had argued against it, but he had insisted he stay and that we leave him behind. I still think it was wrong of us, even if he w_as _going to turn on us with rage and attempt to attack us. He knew, we all knew, but I didn't want to believe it.

I had grown very fond of Michael. He was sweet, different from all the rest of the selfish, pompous men that I am forced to cope with in order to survive. Michael had been determined, he had helped me several times when I was close to a brutal, gorey death. _He _was part of the reason why we were here right now. And what had happened? He was bitten by one of those zombie bastards that had taken over our entire city. And now he was being left behind, while we all breathed sighs with utter relief and exhaust swept over us.

The dock Michael stood on substantially was fading and slowly growing smaller and smaller. We drifted along, leaving behind a tone of memories..

I felt a firm hand on my left shoulder. I turned round to see Kenneth standing there, a concerned expression planted on his wrinkle-creased features. "Are you alright, Ana?" he questioned. His navy blue police uniform was tattered and wrinkled, with dark mud and blood stains. He gripped his rifle tightly in his left hand.

I bit my lip to prevent myself from muttering a "no." I didn't want to let anyone know about my loss for Michael and deep, affectionate feelings for him. "I'll manage."

He let his arm fall limply at his side. "Alright. If you need anything, I'm here."

I nodded but ignored his pervious words. What I needed was different, it wasn't something Kenneth could get for me.. I heard the clonking of his footsteps as he retreated back over to where the others sat stiffly and shivering. I kept my eyes on the microscopic figure of Michael slowly vanishing. I could also spot the swarm of zombie monsters forming around him, smothering him, sinking him into the depths of their bloody, gorey evilness.

When I couldn't bare to watch any longer, I pulled my heavy eyes away from the collapsing dock and turned to face exhausted, blood-stained people. Everyone was a gorey mess. Nicole was nuzzling up with Terry. I admired their words of comfort to each other. They snuggled up close, creating a fusion of body heat.

I put one foot in front of the other, making my way steadily and slowly to the others. They all focused their attention upon me. Nicole's concerned expression didn't cause me to spill out everything I was feeling right now.

"Are you OK?" questioned Nicole, her short orange-red hair framing her heart-shaped face.

I shrugged my shoulders, avoiding any further conversation.

"You don't have to still be so miserable," she replied after I didn't answer. "It's all over with now."

"Not with Michael," I murmured.

"So I guess you two kind of had it _going on _before.."

I snapped like a twig. "No, nothing was going on between Michael and I, we were just really good friends," I lied, my cheeks flaming with fury. How could she possibly joke around like that when Michael was dead.. or close enough.

We had just drifted away from so many memories, from so much gore and destruction, and already everyone appeared to be acting like the past had never occured. Well I certainly couldn't forget it. I felt rather miserable. I felt a terrible loss for my husband, for the young couple Luda and Andre, for Norma, for Steve, even for CJ, a bastard security guard who of course later on turned out to be an alright guy... and I especially felt an arrogant loss for Michael.

Terry stood up abruptly and began rooting through all the coolers and compartments lying around. "I wonder if Steve has any useful values stashed around here."

Nicole watched him eagerly. "Maybe he'll have some food, I'm starving."

"Shit!" Terry exclaimed, hopping backwards right into me. He pointed a shaky finger at a blue cooler that's lid was open. Everyone gathered and peered inside the cooler. A bloody, gorey zombie head lay on top of all the ice cubes in the cooler. It's teeth were bared and it was snarling. It's hair was missing and dreadfully scraggly; it's eyes rolled around everywhere, and were barely in their sockets.

Nicole's cheeks puffed as she leaned far over the side of the boat to do some business. Kenneth scrounged up his nose in sheer disgust. "How the hell would that have gotten in there?" he demanded.

Terry shook his head. "_I_ haven't a clue, Ken," he responded.

Kenneth snatched the cooler and chucked it overboard and into the rushing waters. "Please don't call me that anymore," he said sternly, not a hint of affection was heard in his menacing tone.

It appeared that I wasn't the only one bitter.

"Awesome!" Terry breathed to himself, pulling out a shiny, new looking video camera and flicking it on exhileratedly. He began venturing around the boat taping everyone he caught sight of.

The camera leered in on me. "Where did you get that?" I questioned bluntly.

"I found Steve's camera," he said, swivelling around to tape a shuddering green-faced Nicole, still clutching the sides of the boat. "It was just lying around here."

After minutes of a video camera being shoved in my face, grumbles from Kenneth, and titters from Nicole, I was bushed and completely miserable. I wanted to indulge myself in a deep slumber, but I wasn't able to bring myself to rest. I needed to be alone, not in this world, just right here, right now. I needed to soar in tranquility, _try _desperately to do the impossible-forget the past. Everyone else could do it, so why couldn't I seem to?

I ventured to the bow of the boat, my mind racing with scenes from our previous shooting event. I could practically see the clear image of me aiming my pistol at a grizzly, snarling Steve zombie, and pulling the triggar aggresively, blasting his blood everywhere... It was amazing how a person on your side, could just turn on you like that.

I leaned far out over the edge of the boat, lost in thought. The crisp air was silent and vacant. There was no birds, no screeching crows, no nothing. Just then, everything drained out of my mind and I narrowed my eyes to see more clearly the faded island in the distance. I couldn't see much of the island itself, as trees covered the most part of it.

"Hey, you guys," I called over my shoulder. "Look ahead. Theres land."

Everyone's heads turned to gaze upon the distant island that we drifted towards drearisomely. Nicole shrieked with glee and Terry breathed a sigh of relief, focusing the camera upon the island as it drew nearer. Kenneth appeared beside me, shielding his eyes from the lustrous sun which had begun to dip behind the distant mountains.

"Kenneth..." my voice trailed off. I couldn't finish my sentence. We were so close to the island now, that everything on it was visible: the lucious trees, the dead grass, the grey drab sky beyond the sizable trees-and the bloodthirsty, bestial zombies.

"Oh shit!" Kenneth cursed aggresively, whipping out his gun and aiming it at the swarm of proceeding zombies. They raced nimbly towards us, their mouths bubbling and overflowing with dark, seeping red blood. They were all tattered and wretched.

I raised my own gun and aimed it directly at the pack of flesh-eating zombies.

"Fuck!" Terry did the same as Kenneth and I, leaving Nicole whimpering with fear.

"Go!" Kenneth hollered, and the three of us raced forwards, fireing our guns vigorously. Blood splattered, insides were blasted, zombies were exploding into pieces.

Kenneth rushed forward, fireing his gun manically and thrashing his leg out at any zombie that came near him. I did the same, rather impetuously.

"Shit, theres so many," I choked. My face was renitent and my whole body was tense, my heart felt like someone's hand was squeezing it, squeezing all the blood from it. I just kept shooting and fireing my bullets at the zombies, but it didn't seem to be getting rid of them, more and more kept coming continuously.

A sharp shriek came from behind me, from the boat. I turned to see two zombies attacking Nicole. They drooled syrupy blood all over here and snarled after her flesh. Terry just turned and ran swiftly to her rescue, fireing his gun non-stop.

I focused my attention on the image in front of me. My vision became blurred and dizziness swept over me. "Kenneth, what are we going to do? Theres too many!"

Kenneth's lips tightened. "Just keep shooting," he shouted blatantly not taking his eyes off the horrific scene he was encountering.

I obeyed, and kept shooting, my arms aching. We had to keep stepping back, as there was too many zombies and it was too difficult to keep track of them all. It was tremendously astonishing to see so many vaguely familiar once-normal people now bloodthirsty, flesh-craving zombies.

As Kenneth and I were continuously firey and shooting at the nearing zombies, one question still remained in my mind: where and how had this vile sickness started?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**I **felt two firm hands on my shoulders, and a vicious snarling sound. I swivelled around to find a zombie drooling bloody saliva all over my outfit. I pelted him over the head with my pistol venomously.

I continued to shoot unceasingly, again and again. Zombies cascaded to the ground, along with a bloody, gorey mess, but more and more kept coming, dashing towards Kenneth and I. We were lucky though, Kenneth was a skilled shooter, as he was a police officer, so that meant he had many years of practice.

A zombie pounced at me, snarling and bareing it's blood dripping teeth. It knocked me to the ground, causing another zombie to lunge at me, ready to sink it's teeth deep into my flesh and turn me into one of them.

Kenneth snapped like a twig, and was on the zombies like a hawk on it's prey. He shot the zombie in the back of it's head, sending blood and gore flying right smack into my face. I winced, it wa so revolting, and pushed the dead corpse off of me so that I was able to stand up. I wiped the zombie's remains off my face, my features twisting into an anguished expression. "Thanks for that," I said sincerely, positioning my gun and aiming it at the swarm of zombies.

Kenneth mumbled something in return, but I couldn't make out what he had said, as it had come out rather muffled.

"Kenneth, we can't keep this up any longer, there's too many!" I declaimed over the chaos and disturbing noise. "We need to find somewhere to go where they can't get at us."

Kenneth kept shooting bullets, killing more and more, causing more and more corpses to litter the once lustrous, tepid island sand. He nodded his head in agreement. "I know. Go back to the boat, I'll keep shooting."

"But what about-"

"No," he stated rigorously. "Just go back to the boat and stay there. Start searching for a place for us to stay, because it doesn't look like we're gettin' out of here."

I swallowed the potato sized lump wedged deep in my throat. "Kenneth... Are you sure?"

"Yes! It'll be fine, just trust me, Ana."

"No. It won't."

"Go. Ana, go!"

I didn't argue any further, there was no need of it, there was no way I could convince Kenneth otherwise. I simply turned on my heel and dashed over to the boat, thrusting myself over the side. Nicole and Terry looked at me with confounded expressions. Terry held Nicole in a warm embrace.

"Come on, you two have to help me out," I explained hurriedly. "We need to find a place to stay so that the zombies can't get at us." I began searching, surveying the entire island. When my eyes finally rested upon what I was searching frantically for, I began shrieking insanely. I hollered out to Kenneth, yelping his name.

Kenneth turned round to face me, still shooting and glancing every so often at the snarling zombies getting closer to their prey, their meal. "Ana, what did you find?"

I pointed ahead at a small, fair sized tree house high in an arrogant tree. It wasn't much, but good enough-for our sake anyway. Kenneth's eyes followed my outstretched arm. He gave me a brief thumbs up before focusing his attention back to his brain blasting. As he was shooting, he began jogging towards the still boat. I started shooting, while he dashed to the boat and hopped in.

"Alright, start grabbing some coolers," he commanded, snatching two navy blue coolers. "And lets start heading to that tree. Terry, come on. Nicole will be fine, get your gun ready."

Terry reluctantly agreed, positioning his gun in the correct position. He ushered Nicole off the boat, keeping her steady and close to him as well as possible. The zombies were swarming around the boat savagely.

"Come on, Chip!" Nicole cupped her mouth with her hands and hollered for her dog Chip to follow her. She had found Chip back at the mall we had been stranded at, and ever since then, she was attatched to the matted canine. The dog obediantly followed it's loving owner.

When we prominently managed to make our way through the swarm of blood thirsty, flesh craving living dead, we were exhausted. We stood just below the abnormally astronomic tree, Kenneth and Terry allowing me to rest while they blasted zombies.

After I regained energy, I thrust my pistol into Nicole's trembling hands. She observed the weapon in her hands, her lip quivering. "Ana, no.."

"Yes, Nicole, I need you to shoot," I insisted.

She shook her head uneasily her eyes brimming with hot tears. "Ana, I can't. You don't understand. I'll be a-murderer!"

I breathed inwardly, frustration causing me to raise my voice slightly. "Nicole, you're not going to be a murderer, these are flesh eating zombies and they're going to kill us if you don't shoot! I need you too, I have to use this rope and climb up this tree to safety."

"But I've never used a gun before."

"I guess there's a first time for everything," I replied simply, bristling with fury.

A zombie lunged at Nicole abruptly. She swivelled around sharply and fired a bullet right at the zombie's head. She shrieked as it's corpse collapsed.

I gave her a brief nod and began my work. After many pathetic attempts, I finally managed to climb up the tree by wrapping the rope around my waist and using my feet to walk up the barky trunk.

"Kenneth!" I roared down, my voice trembling. "I'm up." I tossed the rope down to him which he caught simply. He handed the rope to Nicole and muttered something to Terry. Terry then helped a perpllexed Nicole position the rope around her waist and begin climbing.

"I can't, I _can't_," Nicole kept pouting. But Terry kept insisting she gain confidence and courage.

Momentarily, we were all up the tree and in the small tree house. I observed my surroundings, my hands on my hips in a sophisticated posture. I set a cooler down on the wooden floor boards. "Well there's a sheet. It's a start." Yeah, a start of our new life.

There was a ratty old sheet with holes in it lying on the floor, a window, cards strewn everywhere, and a dart board. It wasn't much, but it was alright if you were desperate. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Nicole, out of nowhere, broke down and started sobbing. Terry immediately ushered to her side and whispered words of comfort in her ear.

Kenneth declined the two coolers he was gripping onto, and stepped further into our new home to get a nice feel for it, to get used to the fact that we were going to be here for a while. We weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Nicole, sniffling and swiping at her tear streaked face, crumpled to the floor and stroked Chip. It had been viscid, but we had managed to get Chip up here. Kenneth, the last to come up, tossed him up to Terry, then Terry thrusted the mutt into Nicole's outstretched hands, then Nicole would gently pass him up to me, where I would set him down on the safety of flat ground.

Seeing Nicole cry so flaccidly made _me _feel so languished. It melted and snapped my heart into two pieces. It made me want to break down and shed so many tears for all my lost loved ones, for everything that had happened to me recently. This was practically my new home, a measley shack in a tree that somebody probably threw together in a moment.

A single tear trickled from my eye down my tepid cheek. I brushed that single tear away; that _one_ tear meant so much.

That night, stars twinkled high in the unenlightened sky, bats fluttered by, and owls hooted in the pitch, deep darkness. It wasn't just darkness, it was advanced darkness. Even the moon produced a small source of light in the wide open sky.

I lay unperturbedly on the fibrous, back-stiffening wooden floor beside Kenneth, with only a thin sheet to cover me. I was at the edge, so I didn't have much blanket. I could hear the snarls and moans of the zombies below. It was nearly impossible to get a wince of sleep.

The quiet sound of sniffing startled me. I could just make out the silhouette of Chip sniffing in a corner of the tiny shack.

"Chip," hissed Nicole sitting up abruptly. "Chip, come here. Come on, boy."

Nicole stood up and carefully edged towards her wandering pet. "Chip?"

A shrilling, eerie shriek rang out through the crisp night air- it was Nicole. She was yelping and screeching with utter fear. Her breaths came out heavy and hard. I shuddered at the sound of nails scratching frantically on wood.

I sat up straight, to make out two hands gripping onto the wooden ledge of the tree house. It was Nicole, her arm swung over, before vanishing behind the ledge again. She was panicing, trying frantically and desperately to pull herself to safety. Because if she didn't, she would get eaten alive.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**N**icole tried desperately to pull herself to safety, but she was too weak and frightened to gain full strength. She was hopeless and she needed desperate help immediately.

I hopped to my feet abruptly. I heard Kenneth's husky voice by my feet mumbling something. I wasn't quite sure if it was in his sleep or it was directed towards me.

"Ana." I looked down at him, he stared up at me with confounded eyes. "Whats goin' on?"

I pointed a trembling finger at the shack's ledge where 5 fingers were just visible to make out by the small source of light given off from the moon. "It's Nicole." I made a frantic gesture for him to come help me pull her up to safety.

We rushed to the edge, observing Nicole's deathly pale face staring helplessely above, her eyes were vacant as she viewed us leering in on her. "H-help!" she hollered, her bottom lip quivering as more moans erupted from the pack of zombies below; they were getting hungry.

I squatted down on my knees beside Kenneth who was already crouched down and taking action. We both grabbed an arm and began yanking Nicole's slightly heavy body up onto flat ground before she was a quick, small snack for a zombie- or zombi_es. _

We pulled and pulled desperately, but she wasn't making any effort to help us _and_ herself out. She was too frightened to make even a minor attempt to grip the ledge and heave herself up. It was just like holding a limp body up by one arm. I thought that if we pulled on her arms any harder that we were going to pull them right out of their sockets.

"Come _ on _Nicole, help yourself some!" roared a blood-red faced Kenneth.

"I'm too scared, I can't do it," Nicole whimpered. She glanced at me, as if pleading me for some aid. "Ana..."

After many pathetic attempts, we managed to heave her up. She was ghostly white, her lips quivering, her whole body trembling. Her entire body and clothes were drenched with sweat. She was shivering uncontrollably, her eyes buldging right out of her sockets. I crept over to where Terry's motionless body lay and snatched the sheet off of him swiftly. He shuddered and his eyes jerked open, I ignored his mumbles and pouts and retreated back over to where Kenneth rubbed Nicole's arms rapidly to try and warm her up, as it was a very chilly night, especially out in the wide open. I wrapped Nicole up in the sheet and huddled close to her, creating a fusion of warmth from our body heat. Nicole turned to me, marvelling greatfully.

"Thanks, Ana," she choked.

Terry appeared beside me a moment later, a look of utter concern planted on his face. "What the hell? Nicole-why is she shivering, and so pale? I thought I heard screams. I wasn't sure if it was in my dream about me going to school pantless or if it was in real life."

"Shivering and screams... zombies. Go figure," Kenneth replied bluntly.

Terry frowned, watching Kenneth stand up straight and make his way back to the sleeping area. He then focused his attention upon Nicole. "You alright? Sorry I wasn't there for you, Nick."

Nicole managed a weak smile. "It's alright. I a-always have A-na... Kenneth."

Terry embraced Nicole in his broad, outstretched arms. He allowed her to nuzzle up close to him. I got up instantly, assuming that my work here was done. I then joined Kenneth on the hard wooden floor, shivering and rubbing my goose bump-covered arms rapidly, longing for a sheet of warmth on top of me. If it was anybody but Kenneth, I would have snuggled up close and enveloped him into a warm embrace. If it had been Michael or...

Lost in deep thought, I hadn't realized Kenneth's deep rumbling voice saying something to me. I jumped, startled and looked at him expectantly.

"You fine?" he questioned. "You looked a bit out of it there."

"I suppose I was," I replied. I sat up and called out to the cuddling couple. "Are you guys done yet? It's getting pretty chilly over here."

They sat in silence for another moments silence before finally standing up and sauntering back over to where Kenneth and I lay reluctantly. They lay together, placing the sheet on top of everybody. But again, me being on the end meant less warmth, less sheet, and less body heat.

I lay there in complete, utter silence, my body motionless, my eyes opened wide, my mind fully awake. I couldn't seem to sleep, yet again. The hungry snarls from the blood-thirsty zombies below kept me awake. Knowing what I lay above, it chilled me to the bone. Who knows, we could wake up to zombies seeping into the shack, all bareing their teeth, ready to feast on their buffet. Or we might not wake up at all.

I turned on my side to face Kenneth and I nearly yelped loud enough to alert the dead below. Kenneth's dark eyes were partially open and he was gawking at me, startled too, I suppose. I had no idea that while I lay here wide awake deep in thought, he lay here too, probably thinking of the same things, I guessed.

"Kenneth," I muttered hushly, my voice coming out raspy and twang.

"You still awake?" Kenneth questioned. "I hadn't a clue. You should sleep, you know."

"What difference would it make?" I interoggated him, lowering my eyes to the rough wooden cedar floor.

Kenneth lowered his face to try to look me directly in the eyes. "It'll make a lot. You'll be much more energized. Come on, Ana. Don't be so low spirited."

"Oh, and you're saying that you're not?" I demanded. "You're telling me that you're high-sprited and cheerful about this whole messed up, confusing situation?"

"No. I didn't say that exactly-"

"Then what? Kenneth, don't hand me this shit when you're the exact same way."

Kenneth was quiet for a brief moment before continuing on, thinking about what to say next, I suppose. "All I'm tryin' to say is you should at least get _some _shut eye, at least. Ana, I care about your safety. I'll do anything to protect you, myself, and the other two. But the only way to do _anything, _is to sleep and get recharged- you dig?"

I shrugged and my entire body sagged with exhaust. "I can't." Tears pricked at my eyes threateningly but I would do anything to hold them back, to prevent them from trickling down my icy cheek.

"Yes. You can."

I knew Kenneth didn't _really _think that this whole situation was going to end wih a positive conclusion. _I_ personally didn't think we were going to survive or come out of this alive all too much, let alone Kenneth, of all people. He was only trying to comfort me, to warm me up and force me to think positively. He wanted me to insist that we were getting out of here unharmed so that I would put every bit of energy and strength in rescuing the four of us. He desperately wanted to get the hell out of here as much as the rest of us did, and he was going to give his _all_ to make that happen. But as much as I wanted to share his postitive attitude, I couldn't bring myself to it. I insisted in my own mind that we weren't going to survive with a small amount of food, a thin sheet to cover us all, and only a few bottles of fresh water.

I tried to obey Kenneth's orders by shutting my eyes tightly, but not a wince of tiredness came over me and that made it tremendously difficult to attempt to fall into a slumber until dawn. So when I re-opened my eyes I was bewildered to find that Kenneth's eyes weren't completely opened and he wasn't even making a minor attempt to sleep.

"So what are _you_ doing?" I inquired, cocking an eye brow.

"I'm staying awake and keeping alert and on the look out," Kenneth said in response, turning over on his other side to face the back of Nicole's embellished orange-red hair.

I lay there confoundedly, staring at the back of Kenneth's dark head aghastly. Had he really said what I thought he had said? I shook my head with utter bedazzledness. I knew Kenneth wouldn't be able to handle the job of staying awake and alert all night long. Exhaust would get the better of him and he would drift off until dawn broke out... And then I would be left to stay awake and keep on the look out attentively.

It seemed hours later when I finally, and rather abruptly, stood up erectly, observing the beyond. I heard the heavy breathing of Kenneth has he slept away. I wasn't willing to wake any of their deep slumbers of tranquility.

I staggered forward, sauntering to the shack's edge. I leaned forth, peering down at the demonic zombies below. If I fell right then, I would be a late night snack in a swift moment of chewing and tearing. I felt the hard lump in my back pocket. I carefully pulled it out and firmly grasped it in my slightly quivering, pale hands. I peered down at a foreign zombie which was trying desperately to climb up the thick tree trunk and feast on some innocent, young flesh. I poised the pistol in the proper position and aimed it at the brain-dead zombie. I poised my finger on the triggar and pulled with such venom, I felt so dangerous and aggresive, as if _I _myself was a snarling zombie waiting to stuff myself silly.

The zombie's head exploded instantly... And I didn't cringe once.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_-Author's Note-_ I have finally decided to update. I apologize for taking so bloody long. (Let me know if there's any errors so I can make sure to give it a thorough read-through first).

* * *

**T**he sun had finally appeared above the horizon. I was still wide awake and hadn't got a wince of sleep. I was sitting at the edge of the tree house, but I avoided meeting the vacant eyes of the zombies below, it creeped me out to watch them try to desperately claw their way up the tree. I wondered how Nicole had fallen over the edge but was able to grab onto the ledge just in the nick of time. How could someone be so damned stupid? Why would she wander to the edge. She probably got curious so she leaned out far to look down at the killers below. Sometimes I thought we would be better off without her, but Terry cared about her _too _much.

Kenneth woke up, at the crack of dawn, and looked sleepily around, focusing his dazed eyes on me. I gave him a weak smile. Rubbing at his eyes, he got up and went over to where I sat.

"Let me guess, you've been up all night?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, but I really don't mind. Not that tired."

"You've got bags under your eyes and you've hardly slept at all, so don't give me that."

The annoyance in his voice made me look up at him. "Well, I find it extremely difficult to pass out when there's a bunch of dead, decaying people below us trying to eat us alive."

"Yeah, but we all managed. You should be use to it, we spent enough time in that mall with zombies all around us."

"Yeah, but, come on. We were in a secure mall with un-breakable doors and windows. We're in a _tree house. _You really think we're safe? What's the point of sleeping when you know you're just going to die any day now, or any minute." I turned to look out at the zombies clawing and trampling each other, all anxious to get near the tree.

Kenneth's brows furrowed and he looked back at the sleeping bodies spread out around the cramped tree house.

"I think we should go back down," I said after a brief moment of silence. I knew saying this would stun him.

He looked down at me in bewilderment. "Come again?"

"I think we should go back down," I put emphasis on the word _down_.

"Back down there? You're fucking kidding me, Ana. How the hell would we be able to accomplish that? We'd be eaten alive within seconds."

I thought about that, and I knew even before I told him of my plan that we would be taking a huge risk. But I was all for it. "I know that it's extremely risky, but we might as well. What have we really got to lose…"

"Our lives. And me, my dignity."

I stood up in rage. "Who gives a fuck about your dignity? Do you honestly think we'll survive up here, in a stuffy little tree house in a tree that's about to collapse, with a few coolers of food? I highly doubt that, Kenneth. It's common sense."

He sighed inwardly. "I know, don't you think I've been worrying about that constantly? I know we'll die either way, we'll starve to death up here. But Hell with it, I'd choose starving to death over getting eaten alive any day."

I knew it wasn't going to be an easy task persuading him to agree with me. And I knew for sure I didn't want to venture down below myself, not to mention Kenneth would never allow it. But he wasn't seeing it my way, wasn't using his sense, and I certainly didn't want to _wait _to die up here.

"You're not thinking straight. You're not thinking about our future! If we stay up here, we're basically giving death an invitation. I'd rather starve to death too, I suppose, than be eaten alive. But that's going to happen if we stay up here anyways. I heard those zombies banging into the tree, trying to knock it over. They're smarter than we think.

"Come on, Ken, think about it. What if we succeed? What if we get down there safely? And we've got loaded guns, so that's a plus. We'll forget about this tree house, we'll move to another city, start fresh, try out hardest to put all this in the past, if that's possible. You won't regret it."

"Alright… We throw the rope over, climb down- and then what? There's millions of zombies down there, they cover every inch of the land surrounding us. We'll never be able to outrun them. Sure, we've got loaded guns, but we don't have that many bullets, not enough at all. We'll have to constantly keep reloading and we can't afford to do that."

He certainly had several good points, definitely. But I still thought that we had a chance. Either way we were going to die, didn't he understand that? We might as well let it come quickly instead of dreading it for weeks.

"I know that… you're right. But it's worth a try. Please, I thought you'd, of all people, would understand and would want to give it a shot. You're a brave guy, and I sure as hell wouldn't be able to do it without your help. Please? I promise you won't regret trying it."

He took a deep breath before exhaling. "I don't know… I sure know we won't be able to do it. But what the Hell? I guess we can give it a go. And Ana, don't tell me I won't regret this. Because I will. Will I ever…"

I'd regret it too. I knew as soon as we throw the rope over the side and prepare ourselves, that I would regret ever trying to convince Kenneth into the whole mess. I agreed with everything Ken pointed out, but I had to follow my gut feeling.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

_-Author's Note- I appreciate people who read (and review) every chapter, thank you. By the way, I'm sorry to those who gave me some "pointers" to improve my story. Indeed I have seen the credits at the end of Dawn of the Dead, and I've seen the part where the zombies race towards them- and I, too, know they didn't make it, but this fic is about them making it, I'm pretending they did; it's a fic. Yes, I agree, I wrote my first chapter crappy, making dialogue and not thoroughly thinking about how people would really talk and act in that situation. However, I've never been in that situation, so I wouldn't know… And everyone is different._

**I **wasn't myself lately; I was different, like a different person. I had inherited CJ's nasty attitude and feeling some of that determination Kenneth (usually) had. Nobody seemed to be themselves, really. Ken seemed to be weakening up, as if this whole situation was really getting the better of him- well, I think it was getting the better of all of us, but especially him.

"Should we wake them up?" I asked Ken, jerking a thumb back at the sleeping bodies.

"Nah," he replied, looking out there, far off, but ignoring the zombies. He didn't seem to be focused on anything in particular and he had that vacant look in his eyes. I couldn't read his expression, his eyes, anything. I was usually good at reading peoples' eyes; they always revealed something about what the person was thinking.

I got to my feet and went back to my area. I laid down and try my hardest to close my eyes but every snarl I heard down below would alert me. I looked hopelessly at Ken who turned around to face me. I sat back up and looked amazedly at Terry and Nicole who were still fast asleep- I wondered exactly how they could fall asleep and not be awoken by anything. Nicole's eyes flickered at the lustrous light from the sun shining in on her. She shielded her eyes and groggily mumbled something I couldn't make out. She turned on her side to look down upon Terry who was breathing softly, she gently nudged him. I suppose she didn't want to be awake without him.

"You two are actually up? Wanna give some of that sleep to Ana?" Ken stalked over to one of the coolers and snatched a bottle of water that he took a swig of. "This damn heat…"

The couple looked over at me, wondering what Ken meant. I was nervous to tell them our plan, I knew Nicole would break down and panic, and Terry would stand up and argue, giving reasons against the idea, telling us how absurd it is.

"Want something to eat?" Terry whispered to Nicole. She nodded and he crawled over to the coolers, she padded after him. "Ew, not that," I heard her squeal.

"Are we going to tell them?"

He shrugged. "Go ahead."

When the two crawled back over to the sheet they slept with, I cleared my throat to get their attention- but that didn't work. "You guys, Ken and I thought that…"

"Oh, do I _want _to know what _you two _have in mind for us?" Terry drawled.

"Alright listen, we thought up an extremely risky plan, but- it's worth the risk. OK, I thought- we thought- maybe we should go back down." I put it nice and blunt.

"Back down eh? God, Anna, you're sick." Terry did not sound like himself either. He was always the good guy, the thoughtful security guard out of CJ and the other one.

"So you're telling me you'd rather rot up here?" I demanded.

"Than get torn and eaten alive by walking corpses? Yes, most definitely."

I sighed heavily. "None of us want to get eaten alive by people we once knew, but I feel like I'm admitting defeat by sitting up here doing nothing about anything."

"There's nothing we _can _do, Ana. Except become an appetizer for zombies." Nicole began to tremble when he said this.

"You know, I never would have thought you'd be a pussy about this," Ken said, searching for something cold to drink.

Terry glowered in Ken's direction and his hand that was clutching Nicole's tightened its grip until his knuckles turned white. "Look, I just have sense enough to know that going back down there is just automatic death for us all."

"We won't know though, will we?" I said matter-of-factly.

Terry's patience was running short. "Look," he began firmly, "we have plenty of food up here, blankets-"

"Blank_et_," I stressed.

"-it's a good enough shelter for now."

"For now?" Ken inquired.

"Well yeah," he shrugged. "I'm sure those zombies won't be down there forever. They'll die off eventually."

"Die off? They're already dead," I snapped. "They're not gonna die again, obviously."

"When we shot them they died again, they didn't come back alive. I think it's possible for them to just… die off, without actually having to kill them ourselves."

I shook my head in disbelief. "You honestly believe that? Shooting their heads off is the only way we were able to kill a small portion of them. God, it almost seems like they're reproducing…" I was repulsed at the thought.

"Reproducing? Yeah. Right. Just eating more people." Terry rolled his eyes and shifted closer to Nicole who was wild eyed and confounded. "I'm not going back down."

Ken was a red-hot flurry of rage as he stepped closer to the two seated on the flimsy sheet laid out. "You're really gonna stay up here and not even give it a chance?"

Terry got to his knees, not able to sit still with so much rage boiling inside of him. "You think we'll be able to outrun, to outsmart, millions of brutish, savage living corpses!"

"Then we die either way," Ken said casually, as though the thought of a possible death for us didn't frighten him the least bit. "It's a loss for us if we stay up here, or go down there. You just have to make the decision of how you wanna die. We're of course eventually gonna run out of food, and it's gonna get real cold, you do know that."

"Yeah, but I think I'd prefer that." Nicole edged even closer to him until they were like a pair of Siamese twins, attached by the hip.

As I listened to their brief argument, a thought occurred to me. Perhaps I didn't want to live. Was going through all this really worth it? It would never leave my mind, I could never let it all go, let it be isolated in a far corner in my mind. I would be paranoid all the time, I would never be the same, and I've seen too much to be the same. And not only that, I have lost so many loved ones. I lost my husband, my beloved. I also lost Michael, who I felt I was fallling for even through all we endured. I already felt devastated and traumatized. And all this had taken such a massive portion out of my life, there wouldn't be a point in continuing on, and we didn't know how much longer this was going to last. Was Terry right, were the zombies eventually going to die off? I doubted it, but it was still a possibility. We had guns, we could start shooting them all one by one, but that would do no good, we certainly didn't have enough bullets, and more and more continued to come. Guns… a new thought struck me. Guns… we had a few guns handy, in reach, we could easily just grab a gun and…

"… and like I said, I don't want to fucking be eaten alive." I just caught Terry's last sentence.

"None of us do," I said calmly. "Nobody wants to be torn and eaten while we're still full conscious. "But we have a solution to that." I stalked over to the coolers and reached inside, pulling out a crumpled garbage bag. I unwrapped the bag, revealing our gun, which contained the largest amount of bullets. I held it up to show them what I was indicating.

"What are you implying?" Terry asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

"Well, its obvious isn't it?" I pointed at the gun and hardened my eyes.

"You want us to shoot ourselves," Kenny said. "Shoot ourselves and get all this agony and fucking nonsense over with. Make our lives come to an end."

I swallowed the potato-sized lump that had swelled in my throat. "Yeah, basically." I thought the mere idea was horrifying. I would most definitely find great difficulty holding a gun up to my head and pulling the triggar. When I thought about it more, my hand started to tremble, my entire body quavered. "I guess it's kind of morbid of me to suggest but…"

"No," Ken shook his head and went over to the cooler to pull out another gun wrapped in a garbage bag, "I think it's a damn good idea."


End file.
